12th
May
Up and out
the door by 7 am. Journey to Bandon took only a 1 and 15 minutes from
Charleville. Reading the preview on John Desmond’s Cork running blog didn’t
fill me with much hope. Lots of hills and climbs from mile 4 or so.. It was
turning out to be a lovely day and the stewarding in to the rugby club was very
well done. Met my two buddies Dermot Brennan and Kieran “Doyler” Doyle outside
the clubhouse. The lads had decided at the last minute to do the 10K. I said to
the lads I’d see them later. Truth be told I was feeling quite nervous about
this one. But a 1 mile warm up followed by stretches did wonders for my tight
hamstrings and my tighter nerves. Did another 1 mile warmup with some easy
sprints and we assembled for the start.
It’s amazing
how one sees all the same faces at these
races. I mightn’t know all the names but at this stage i have people named
according to hair colour, running style etc. God knows what if any names are
given to me.
Mile 1 –
Mile 3 felt very comfortable and decided to run at 7.30 pace as long as
possible. I was overtaking plenty of runners whose breath sounded very heavy.
(mile 1 -7.32, mile 2 -7.38, mile 3 -7.06). By mile 4 and mile 5 I was feeling
very strong and aware I was running well within myself. Amazing what a few
weeks of intervals and tempo runs can do for ones pace. The mile markers were
tallying well with my garmin and by mile 5 my time was 37.01, ahead of
schedule. Just as well really because we had come to a mother of a climb at
mile 5 to mile 6. I took this reasonably well and by mile 7 I had hit 7.00
pace. My time was 51.54 but at this stage I was feeling very strong. No one had
overtaken me at this stage and I had the satisfaction of overtaking a number of
jock types. Don’t know what they made of this 38 year old man with the gut
tipping past them!!!
Mile 8 – 10 I
was pretty much on my own. I overtook two lads. One was wearing was orange teeshirt,
the other a red teeshirt but I figured their relaxed style meant they plenty
left in the tank. We were hitting a lovely downhill slope since mile 8 and my
splits reflected this. (7.00, 7.11,7.15). At this stage things were getting
tough for me as the rise in temperatures meant my pace slowed down. The slower 10K
runners merged with the rest of the field and the road became crowded again,
much to my relief. By mile 11 I was in a spot of bother as the brain was
telling the body to slow down. Had to really focus now. The two relaxed lads
strolled past me. Had to admire their effortless style- maybe some day....
At mile 12 I
was running with this guy in his 40’s. We ran mile 12 in 1.29 or 8.00 minute
pace and then we came to another crest of a hill. It was obviously designed to
break whatever resolve we had so there was nothing to do but take it one step
at a time. By mile 13 I knew I was going to set a PB and relaxed a bit. I hadn’t
expected to PB this one and my running partner streaked in front of me as did a
longhair guy. These were two of 4 people to overtake me towards the end but knowing I was going to set
a PB I didn’t care. Crossed the line in 1.37.26 and finished in 59th
place. I was chuffed and even happier to see my two friends waiting for me as I
crossed the finish line. Nice one lads, nice one!!!!
Recovery
didn’t take long and headed back to the car with the lads. We went our separate
ways and arranged to meet up again next week to watch the Champions league
final in a Cork pub. A excellent day. Listening to a old “Spiritualized” album
on the way home felt great. Even Joy Division sounded upbeat!!!! What will the
plan be for the Cork half marathon now? Can I improve even further?
2 mile warm
up (17.00 minutes) followed by 13.2 mile half marathon (1.37.26). No heart rate
information.
Sunday 13th
May
A bit
preemptive with this one but will do 3.2 miles in 35 minutes
Total
mileage for week 48 miles
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